Robert Kroetsch grew up on a farm in central Alberta and attended the University of Alberta. He worked in the North for six years, and then went to graduate school in the US for another six. By the time Robert was in his thirties he was ready for serious writing. Since then he has published, among other things, nine novels and numerous books of poetry, essays, a travel book, and a journal. Robert worked for 34 years as a professor, half that time in Upstate New York, the other half in Manitoba. Robert received the Governor General's Award for the1969 novel, The Studhorse Man.